September 17th-21st District Conference & Southern District Kids Camp

  On Wednesday we flew  five hours to participate in our district conference.   We flew in late, and as we got off the plane, we quickly remembered we were flying budget, as we walked off the plane onto the tar mac and then into a small metal shed to collect our luggage! We then took a taxi to kingsley where we will stay the next two nights.  Thursday we spent the day showing Mark Matteson around the city and visiting the Victoria Markets.     We took the train and trams into the heart of the city. The Victoria Markets take up an entire block and if an item was every sold or thought of being sold in Australia, you can probably buy it there at the Victoria Markets.   Every three meters there is a new vender and rain or sunshine, these people are out selling their items.   We did a bit of shopping, since we are going home to the US we thought we would buy some Christmas presents! So, that was fun.  
On friday morning we woke up early and loaded up the trailer with sound equipment, to help the conference staff. We then took the train into the city and helped everybody ramp up for the start of District Conference.   District Conference is such an amazing time because you get to see all that God is doing across the churches in our District.  The Southern District covers a huge area.  All of Western Australia South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania.  This is a huge area. But, God has blessed us with pastors and lay people and churches who are spreading the word of God.   WE heard beautiful music by the "Upper Room" and "Sunraysia" Church.  It truly was a special weekend.  Some of the service was in Tongan and some in English. New pastors were ordained  and then business of course was handled!   Because of our tour in the US this year to raise support for 6 months, Chris has stepped down from the board, but others have stepped up to the call and we have an amazing group of leaders who are going to lead the district forward.  

Melissa ran a kids camp the entire time the conference was going.  It can be quite ovewhelming. It was 20 hours of curriculum planning in three days. But, she always has a blast ministering and pouring into the kids.  She carried her theme from our kids camp over and expanded on it. So, they journeyed on adventures in Candy land and learned how to live a sweet life in Jesus!





Buble Gum- Stick with Jesus
Fairy Floss (Cotton Candy)- Build your life on the Rock
Mint- Only Jesus can offer forgiveness.
Hard Candy-  Hard times will come, and we need to wait upon the Lord and seek him.
Sour Patches-  Use Kind loving, caring Words, not sour ones
Chocolate- We're all different and God made us different with different ingredients but we're all still sweet to him and each of us matter the same





The kid completed crafts and had all kind of fun.  The children also shared a song in the Sunday Service.
Before we left, the kids were already counting down how many days till we would see them again, and have another District Kids Camp Meeting.